Words spelled with more letters on the right of the keyboard are associated with more positive emotions than words spelled with more letters on the left, according to new research by cognitive scientists Kyle Jasmin of University College London and Daniel Casasanto of The New School for Social Research, New York. Their work shows, for the first time, that there is a link between the meaning of words and the way they are typed - a relationship they call the QWERTY* effect. Their study is published online in Springer's journal Psychonomic Bulletin & Review.
Tech
A new edition of the Strategic Energy Technologies review has been published. This "2011 Technology Map", produced by the European Commission's in-house science service, the Joint Research Centre (JRC), provides a European and worldwide analysis of 15 low-carbon energy technologies, energy efficiency in industry, energy performance of buildings and electricity storage in the power sector. Compared with the 2009 Technology Map, the steep increase of wind and solar (photovoltaics) generation capacity in the EU and worldwide is to be highlighted.
Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed the first functional oxide thin films that can be used efficiently in electronics, opening the door to an array of new high-power devices and smart sensors. This is the first time that researchers have been able to produce positively charged (p-type) conduction and negatively charged (n-type) conduction in a single oxide material, launching a new era in oxide electronics.
Not a week goes by without reports on security gaps, data theft or hacker attacks. Both businesses and private users are becoming increasingly uneasy. However, when it comes to technologies like cloud computing, trust and security are essential if we intend to use data and applications that are flexible, cost-effective and above all, mobile. That's why Fraunhofer researchers are working on a series of security solutions that they will present in Hall 26, Booth E08.
A control center for the cloud
Wetlands created to replace those lost to environmental degradation or development take up carbon from the atmosphere and so potentially reduce greenhouse warming, a unique 15-year study suggests. Such artificial wetlands caused emissions of methane, which may contribute to warming, smaller than those from natural wetlands.
Using a combination of guillotine-based experiments and cutting-edge computer modelling, researchers at the University of Bristol have explored the most efficient ways for teeth to slice food. Their results, published today in Journal of the Royal Society Interface, show just how precisely the shape of an animal's teeth is optimized to suit the type of food it eats.
Ex-offenders face significant barriers to securing accommodation, says research by University of Southampton academics from the Third Sector Research Centre.
The link between homelessness and offending is well established. About a third of offenders are homeless before or after imprisonment, and housing is a key factor in reducing reoffending rates. However, while many prisons now have links with third sector organisations and even a dedicated housing advisor, stronger relationships between housing advice agencies and local authorities are vital.
WASHINGTON — The costs to switch to numeric criteria for limiting nutrient pollutants in Florida waters are expected to exceed U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates, says a new National Research Council report. The committee that wrote the report questioned the validity of several assumptions in the EPA cost analysis and found that EPA did not adequately report on the uncertainties that could affect the cost of the rule change.
A man—or person—is known by the company he keeps. That old proverb takes on new meaning in the 21st century.
3D movies like "Toy Story" or "Transformers" are based on everyday objects that are able to move like humans. Such 3D characters are created by skilled experts in time-consuming manual work. Computer scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Informatics have now developed two computer programs that can accomplish the same process in mere seconds and can easily be handled even by inexperienced users. The researchers present their unique software for the first time at F34 in Hall 26 at the Cebit from March 6 -10, 2012.
University of California, San Diego bioengineers have developed a self-healing hydrogel that binds in seconds, as easily as Velcro, and forms a bond strong enough to withstand repeated stretching. The material has numerous potential applications, including medical sutures, targeted drug delivery, industrial sealants and self-healing plastics, a team of UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering researchers reported March 5 in the online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Engineers at the University of California, Davis, have invented a superthin "nanoglue" that could be used in new-generation microchip fabrication.
"The material itself (say, semiconductor wafers) would break before the glue peels off," said Tingrui Pan, professor of biomedical engineering. He and his fellow researchers have filed a provisional patent.
Conventional glues form a thick layer between two surfaces. Pan's nanoglue, which conducts heat and can be printed, or applied, in patterns, forms a layer the thickness of only a few molecules.
A new kind of flexible, transparent pressure sensor, developed at the University of California, Davis, for use in medical applications, relies on a drop of liquid.
The droplet goes in a flexible sandwich of the substance polydimethylsiloxane, or PDMS. The sensor acts as a variable electrical capacitor. When the sensor is pressed down, the sensing droplet is squeezed over conductive electrodes, increasing its capacitance.
"There's a huge need for flexible sensors in biosensing," said Professor Tingrui Pan, who led the research project.
Neuroimaging for stroke patients may be unnecessarily costly and redundant, contributing to rising costs nationwide for stroke care, according to University of Michigan research.
The research, published in the Annals of Neurology, found that 95 percent of stroke patients who received magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) also had a computed tomography (CT) scan.
As scientists continue the hunt for energy sources that are safer, cleaner alternatives to fossil fuel, an ever-increasing amount of valuable farmland is being used to produce bioethanol, a source of transportation fuel. And while land-bound sources are renewable, economists and ecologists fear that diverting crops to produce fuel will limit food resources and drive up costs.